Maybe it’s just my perception or a confluence of people pointing it out again, but botting and other forms of cheating have seemed to be on the rise in prominent MMOs lately. Guild Wars 2 studio ArenaNet this week addressed it head on, explaining to players how it handles reports.
“We fully recognize the concerns about players hacking and botting in GW2, and we want to reiterate how we address those issues and maintain a positive game experience for players,” the company says. “Every report of hacking and cheating is seen and reviewed by a member of our Guild Wars 2 Operations Team. Security is an ongoing process, especially as systems change over time, and we will be introducing further improvements to make it easier to report, identify and action cheaters over the next few months. Because a reactive approach on its own is not enough, our development teams are also working on solutions to prevent and mitigate these hacks on the code level. We hope to be able to share the result of these efforts as they progress.”
The studio doesn’t expressly mention it, but just a month ago, YouTuber Wooden Potatoes came under fire when he indelicately attempted to summon ArenaNet staff to the scene of wanton cheating by using a series of filter-tripping slurs in chat, which were then recorded and used against him out of context. ArenaNet would clearly prefer players operate through proper channels, using the in-game reporting window or a ticket.
“It doesn’t matter who struck first; don’t get baited into violating the Rules of Conduct, yourself,” it cautions.
